The present invention relates to drill head spindles and, more particularly, to drill heads having removable spindles for boring holes in glass or the like.
At the present time, glass, particularly automotive glass, is drilled with by a top and bottom set of drill head spindles. The glass is positioned between the drill heads with the spindles and drill bits opposing one another. The press is closed causing the two heads to come together enabling the drill bits to bore holes from both directions approximately half way through the glass. Upon opening of the press, the slug is removed and holes are formed in the glass.
The most common problem experienced in the field today is spindle failure. The spindles rotate along with the bits and, thus, take the most abuse. In the current art drilling machines when a spindle fails, the entire drill head must be removed from the press and repaired. Generally, the repair involves replacing bearings, seals and often the spindle shaft. In order to remove the spindles from the drill head, the coolant couplings, lubrication lines and coolant hoses must be removed from the drill head so that the drill head cover may be unscrewed and separated from the spindle housing. Often, after the housing has been opened the gear train must be dismantled and new bearings and seals replaced.
The spindles are removable from the inside out, which necessitate the removal of the entire spindle drill head. Once the spindles are replaced, the cover is put back on the spindle housing and the lubrication lines, coolant lines and coolant couplings are replaced onto the spindles for use.
This above-described procedure generally takes several hours. The drill heads must be positioned back on the press and aligned. The aligning must be precise so that the sets of spindles of the drill heads directly oppose one another. Often times this procedure results in 10 to 20 hours of lost production time which hampers production of the window glass.
Relevant art is illustrated in the following U.S. patents. The patents are Padovani U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,483, issued Apr. 1, 1986; Miyakawa U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,916, issued Dec. 28, 1982; Wood U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,775, issued July 28, 1981; Highberg et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,479, issued Aug. 13, 1974; Hart et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,787, issued Oct. 16, 1973; Evans U.S. Pat. No. 3,555,963, issued Jan. 19, 1971; Ferguson et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,461,615, issued Aug. 19, 1969; Conrad U.S. Pat. No. 3,090,412, issued May 21, 1963; Mezey U.S. Pat. No. 2,703,994, issued Mar. 15, 1955; and Karge U.S. Pat. No. 2,437,605, issued March 9, 1948.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the above art. The present invention provides the art with drill heads having removable spindles. The spindles can be easily removed from the drill heads without causing extended line downtime. Also, the present invention eliminates realignment of the drill head since only the spindles are removed from the drill head and not removal of the entire drill head. The present invention provides the art with a universal spindle that can be positioned into a drill head as an off-the-shelf item. The present invention provides the art with a spindle which enables coolant to pass directly through the spindle onto the workpiece. The present invention is of a waterproof construction.
From the following description and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art.